[audionewbi]

Nice save. No doubt you know your stuff. Could be just me but all that space program stuff started to sound like a infomercial after a few sentences. I prefer direct tech and spec talk about a product and not a long winded story to hype the product like a infomercial.

I prefer to know the naming reason behind the product I collect. For me, each thing I collect have a special spot.

 

[HK_sends]

While I love my dk-4001 I would certainly be interested in a trade up program.

Funny, I was thinking the same thing...
But I do understand why that might not be possible. I am intrigued though.

Cheers!
-HK sends

 

[davidmolliere]

Looks like a modern reference signature with a focus on timbre, a touch of warmth for naturalness, quick transients and great headroom. I think I am going to like it

Of course, when our lead engineer Andy Zhao tuned the LUNA, it was targeted toward our own 'reference' signature. The following is, in Andy's own words, his goals for tuning LUNA (...) Roughly, it means that he wished to draw out maximum detail and fullness of sound while maintaining the widest possible bandwidth in its extension, without compromising on a relaxed and mellifluous overall sound. The pure beryllium foil driver, especially when constructed in the way we fashioned it, naturally exhibits these attributes. We additionally looked to provide a sense of evocative warmth in vocals, but still maintain a very neutral tone. Our key goal, however, was to deliver the most natural timbre around, and we wanted to reduce ringing as much as possible, unless particular components of ringing proved to be especially euphonic. We believe LUNA meets these tuning goals.

 

[Jalo]

All of the above descriptions are good, but one thing a dynamic driver need to overcome is its ability to replicate the treble atmosphere with airiness, treble extensions, sound dispersions with definition, and holographic imaging. Otherwise it is just another iems with solid mid to bass performance. A totl iems should not have trade offs.

 

[XERO1]

I would really love to see some close-up pictures of the actual driver (not just CG renders).

Is that a possibility?

 

[Infoseeker]

They only had a single prototype at that event of theirs mentioned above. So it probably doesn't have a final production touches yet.

 

[DUNU-Topsound]

I would really love to see some close-up pictures of the actual driver (not just CG renders).

Is that a possibility?

Our engineers are highly concerned about the possibility of copycats with regard to driver design, so it is the wish of our engineering team to keep close-up photographs and renders away from public view until LUNA reaches closer to mass release in late December and January. At CanJam NYC in February, it is our intent to have the driver displayed independently at our booth, similar to what a number of other manufacturers have done with their drivers in the past.

Actually, the units that we had in Shanghai did not have the protective mesh grille at the front, and the silvery-white surface of the beryllium foil driver could be seen deep inside. There is a fascinating article titled "The Whole Truth About Beryllium Diaphragms" by Steve Mowry that circulated around the hi-fi speaker world a number of years ago that discussed the various types of beryllium-based and beryllium-containing alloys that speaker manufacturers of all shapes and sizes have used in the not-so-distant past. We didn't want to take a chance on beryllium materials that may not have the purest composition, so we went with the only manufacturer with a proven, decades-long track record in refining and processing beryllium, and that's Materion.

They only had a single prototype at that event of theirs mentioned above. So it probably doesn't have a final production touches yet.

We had a single unit used for listening on the floor, with another unit that was used for display purposes (the one seen atop the titanium blocks).

A third unit was reserved for internal discussions, and just in case something went wrong with the initial unit.

All three of these units were functional prototypes with working drivers that are mainly lacking the final cosmetic polish that our industrial designer prefers.

A fourth unit was made and sent to Japan, where it was used at the FUJIYA-AVIC listening event this past weekend.

For example, he insists on having a very smooth transition from the beveled shape of the connector barrel to its smooth end cap. The CNC ridges on the inner side of the housings does not have the proper spacing. And we have not finalized the placement of the logo.

 

[Whitigir]

New driver and new technology is always intriguing! I am a little confused

so....Rolled-foil Beryllium is a technique that was used to make the diaphragm isn’t it ? I thought for a moment that it was something else lol! So the LUNA is pure Beryllium dynamic driver IEMS.

my next question would be. Regarding the voice-coil, did DUNU engineer it in any different creative way like Focal ? What magnetic flux rating is it ? Because to me, the only Pure Beryllium dynamic out there would be Focal Utopia.

 

[lafeuill]

Another question : ACIS has not been ported to the Luna. @DUNU-Topsound : any comments about that ? Thanks

 

[pure5152]

New driver and new technology is always intriguing! I am a little confused

so....Rolled-foil Beryllium is a technique that was used to make the diaphragm isn’t it ? I thought for a moment that it was something else lol! So the LUNA is pure Beryllium dynamic driver IEMS.

my next question would be. Regarding the voice-coil, did DUNU engineer it in any different creative way like Focal ? What magnetic flux rating is it ? Because to me, the only Pure Beryllium dynamic out there would be Focal Utopia.

They've already stated the magnetic flux density to be N52, which is the highest grade of neodymium magnet currently available (higher than the ZMF Verite, which uses N50):

To harness and control the motion of the beryllium foil, LUNA's N52 Neodymium magnetic system was custom-ordered with added thickness for much higher magnetic flux across the European-imported CCAW voice coil.

I sent them a private message asking about other things, and one thing they mentioned was that the sound engineer/designer purposely purchased a focal utopia so that he could match and surpass the sound quality offered by the utopia. They'll be very different headphones, but it seems like DUNU here is serious with their claims (that pistonic motion looks beautiful as well).

 

[Whitigir]

The greatest flaws of Utopia is the soundstage :/

 

[DUNU-Topsound]

New driver and new technology is always intriguing! I am a little confused

so....Rolled-foil Beryllium is a technique that was used to make the diaphragm isn’t it ? I thought for a moment that it was something else lol! So the LUNA is pure Beryllium dynamic driver IEMS.

my next question would be. Regarding the voice-coil, did DUNU engineer it in any different creative way like Focal ? What magnetic flux rating is it ? Because to me, the only Pure Beryllium dynamic out there would be Focal Utopia.

Well the point is kind of that there is nothing else in the diaphragm other than Beryllium! With every other kind of technique, you're getting Beryllium deposited onto another material.

At this time, we're not disclosing full details on the composition of the driver. However, in short, Focal developed their former-less voice coil technology in the name of saving inertial weight. Doing so increases the risk of coil and driver failure, so Focal came up with some creative ways of using the magnet structure to protect the voice coil. Our design needs not risk these things.

As for magnetic flux, assuming you're thinking of Beyerdynamic's reporting of their T1 headphones as achieving 1.2 T in magnetic flux density, these are frankly parameters that are subject to a variety test conditions, especially considering a speaker is a large electromagnet. Magnetic flux density itself is a parameter that is resultant from an interaction between a magnetic field and surface area. It is difficult to really say how a company reports their magnetic flux figures without knowing exactly what conditions in which they tested the system. If we're talking about residual flux density, it is a measure of the magnet material itself, which is around 14500 gauss for N52 magnets. We follow the Sony/JVC system of evaluating magnetic flux. However, gotta double-check with our engineering team first.

Another question : ACIS has not been ported to the Luna. @DUNU-Topsound : any comments about that ? Thanks

The general concept is that we wished to let the driver sing freely. With ACIS, we're artificially adjusting the acoustic load so that we can bolster low frequencies. We already hit our target performance with conventional tuning so there was no need to do more. We weren't looking to turn LUNA into a sub-bass cannon.

 

[audionewbi]

The greatest flaws of Utopia is the soundstage :/

My question would be, if that soundstage was coming out of IEM, would that be okay?

 

[kmmbd]

While the Utopia has a more intimate soundstage compared to something like the HD800S, that is not necessarily a bad thing. As long as the imaging is accurate with precise instrument placement, a not-so-vast soundstage might be an appropriate trade-off.

 

[davidmolliere]

Yeah and using the same tech doesn’t mean the LUNA is a Utopia clone in IEM form... I’d be wary of such speculation...